They're shutting down Kenneth between Highland Avenue and Grandview Avenue from 5 to 10 p.m. tonight, says Sgt. John Gilkerson.

In recent years the street known for its good candy has seen an influx of both teens (Hoover High School is nearby) and outsiders attracted to the sweet loot, he said.

The area has experienced wrecked mail boxes, busted pumpkins, cruising, parents staying in idling cars as their kids trick-or-treat, and other stuff scary to the locals, says the sarge. And then there was this one, he said:

jacrews7

... One of the most egregious vandalism acts: A resident, out for the evening last Halloween, had their garden hose inserted into the front door mail slot and turned on, flooding their living room. That's the kind of thing we want to prevent this year.

Ouch.

As a result, Gilkerson told us, many residents were self-instituting an 8 p.m. shutdown for candy distribution:

I don't want the message to go out that we're the Grinch that stole Halloween. We want to make it better for the neighborhood and deal with that traffic danger in the dark. There's a lot of cars on the street. We want to mitigate some traffic and any mischief. We not trying to put the kibash on Halloween.